After posting his second straight victory and fifth top-three finish of the fall, RJ Manke (Washington) improved two spots and is No. 6 in PGA TOUR University’s Week 41 Velocity Global Ranking.
Entering the season, Manke was 19th in the Velocity Global Ranking with a points average of 881. He averaged 1355 points per start in five events this fall, headlined by wins at the Oregon State Invitational and the Fighting Irish Invitational, and his average has improved by nearly 200 points. Manke’s next college start will be in January at the Southwestern Invitational hosted by Pepperdine, where he spent four seasons before transferring to Washington.
RJ Manke of Lakewood, Wash. shot rounds of 66-67-68 to win the historic 100th Washington Men’s Amateur Championship in commanding fashion, finishing seven shots clear of the rest of the field.
Manke also won this championship in 2018. He is the first multiple champion in 52 years. Not since Don Scott won back-to-back titles in 1968-1969 had any player won this championship more than once.
The championship was held this week on the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. The three-day championship was conducted by Washington Golf (WA Golf).
After the first round, Manke was tied for the lead with John Sand of Hoquiam. Manke took a solo lead after the second round, carrying a 4-shot lead into today’s final round.
“My goal before we started (today’s final round) was to get to 15-under,” he said after his round. “On 18 I had a choice to go for (the green) or lay up, and I needed a birdie to reach my goal, so luckily I worked it out.”
In drawing from his experience in winning this title in 2018, Manke said, “Having that ‘final group’ experience is pretty big. To go down the stretch with Brian Mogg and Michael Almonte back in 2018 just gave me more experience to go out there today.”
After the win, when told how rare it is to win this championship more than once, Manke took a moment to take in what he had just accomplished. “To be back in my home state, for this to be my second title and have it be the 100th at that, to have my name on the trophy two times with some of the greatest players in Washington feels pretty awesome.”
